Domenech insists "I will never resign"

In the face of 4 out of every 5 Frenchmen call him for his resignation Raymond Domenech is standing defiant. In a wide ranging interview with the French newspaper L'Express Domenech has vowed he will not resign.

He said in the interview "The harder the pressure, the more I become motivated. I thrive on adversity. When everything's calm, I get bored, I start worrying. To leave now makes no sense.

"Let me reverse the logic. Wouldn't they think in that case 'what a coward', he's cut and run. (Resigning) would suggest that I've completed my job and that I don't give a damn about the consequences - that would give ammunition to my critics.

"People have to stop dreaming. I'm not someone who walks away. With my players we want to achieve something momentous in South Africa.

"We'll let a little time go by, see what this and that person is saying, and then kick on again."

After a disappointing showing at Euro 2008, in which France failed to progress from the group stages, Domenech looks to have survived another brush with dismissal.

However, he was forced to reiterate his stance that he did not receive around €750,000 (£675,000) as a bonus for World Cup qualification, as reported in the French media.

He insisted: "If it really was that, I would be as happy as anything.

"But it is way over the mark. I won't even try and contradict the information because it is their usual editorial line. It is a lie. Money is not my motivation."

North Korea suffers huge set back in World Cup preparation

It is not looking so good for North Korea as they kicked off their preparation for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

They were undone by goals from James Chamanga and Felix Sunzu gave Zambia a 4-1 win over North Korea in an international friendly. North Korea's only goal of the game came courtesy of a penalty converted by Mun In Guk four minutes from the final whistle.

Chamanga scored twice in the first half and added a third in the 70th minute.

Felix Sunzu, who came on as a substitute for Chamanga in the 71st minute, scored in injury time to restore the three-goal margin.

Ghana fails to improve in FIFA ranking

Ghana has hung on to its ranking as Africa sixth best team despite a lacklustre performance since they qualified for the World and Nations Cup.

Ghana however moved up one place in the world, occupying the 37th position in the latest Fifa/Coca Cola rankings released Friday.

Defeats to Benin and Japan in a World Cup qualifier and an International friendly respectively have contributed largely to Ghana's rankings. As they failed to capitalise on being the first African team to qualify.

In November the Stars drew with Mali and Angola but those results will only reflect in the next rankings to be released in December.

Cameroon maintained the first position in Africa, and moved up three places in the world, occupying the 11th position.

Ivory Coast are second in Africa and 16th in the world. Nigeria despite a difficult run in the World Cup qualifier are still third in Africa and 22nd in the World.

Egypt and Algeria have swapped places in the latest rankings, with Algeria now taking over the fourth position in Africa and 28th in the World. Egypt are fifth in Africa and 29th in the World.

Spain have toppled Brazil to take over the first position in the World. Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Germany, France, Argentina, England, Croatia follow in that order.

World Cup 2010 : The Final 32

The qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is complete. Uruguay's 2-1 victory over Costa Rica secured the last spot and the 32 teams heading to South Africa next June are now known.

The qualifiers are

Africa
Algeria
Cameroon
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
South Africa (Hosts)

Asia
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR (North Korea)
Korea Republic (South Korea)

Europe
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland

North and Central America
Honduras
Mexico
USA

Oceania
New Zealand

South America
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay

Nigerian coach Amodu criticises plans to drop him for a foreign coach

Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu has lashed out at those asking for him to be fired, despite qualifying Nigeria for next year's World Cup.


Amodu made history when he became the only coach to qualify Nigeria to two World Cups - 2002 and 2010 - but there has been a clamour for him to be replaced by a foreign coach ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations in January as questions persist about his tactics and team selection.

"How many teams in the world play ten matches and don't drop a game? To now ask whether I should stay or not, is not correct," Amodu told Nigerian sports radio station Brila FM.

"I was given a mandate to qualify Nigeria for the World Cup, and I have done that.

"Is it a problem to coach Nigeria? People should know I have a life, I have a family."

In 2001, Amodu became the first Nigerian coach to qualify the African nation to a World Cup. However, he fell out with the authorities soon after the 2002 Nations Cup in Mali and was replaced by Adeboye Onigbinde for the finals in Korea and Japan.

Amodu has now advocated continuity, arguing that the team who qualified the country to the World Cup should feature at the Nations Cup in Angola and thereafter at the World Cup.

England look set to be World Cup seeds

England are banking on being one of the top seeded teams for next years World Cup in South Africa. Their seeding will depend on how much weight FIFA gives to the most recent ranking which if they did would have England missing out on a top 8 seed as these are currently occupied by

1.Spain
2.Brazil
3.Holland
4.Italy
5.Portugal
6.Germany
7.France
8.Argentina

With South Africa also guaranteed a seed, England would have faced the high risk of being drawn against one of the big boys in the opening rounds.

FIFA however seems to have thrown England a lifeline by indicating recent form will not factor highly in the seeding. A Fifa spokesman said: “If the criteria to determine the seeded teams were to include, as in the past, the Fifa world ranking, then it would be the October 2009 edition of this ranking which would be considered — and this for sporting reasons.

“Using the November 2009 edition would create an uneven situation, specifically for the European zone, where the play-offs involving the eight best runners-up led to an imbalance in the number of qualification matches played between the teams.”

This opens the possibility of England bagging a top speed an avoiding heavyweights such as Brazil, Germany, Italy or Spain

Slovenian PM turns boot boy after historic win

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor vowed to clean the national football team's boots if the team pulled of a suprise victory over Russia in the play-offs, and guesss what they did so the PM had to roll up his shoes and get down to business.

"I just cleaned the players' shoes - but I admit I did not clean them thoroughly," Mr Pahor told TV Slovenia.

"To Africa with clean shoes," said Slovenia's Dnevnik newspaper.

Mr Pahor said he cleaned the players' boots after Wednesday's match in Maribor, in which Slovenia beat much-fancied Russia 1-0.

The goal was enough for the Slovenians to progress to South Africa on the away goal rule, after a 2-1 defeat in Moscow last week.

Theirry Henry says "I am not a cheat"

French striker and captain Thierry Henry has expressed regret over the handball incident that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup. In a statement to Sky News Henry said

"I'm naturally uncomfortable with the way we won and I am extremely sorry for the Irish who really deserve to be in South Africa. To replay the game, this is not my responsibility,"

"I have said, and shall say again: I hit the ball with my hand. But I am not a cheat. I've never been. It was a reflex, I could not do otherwise. Everything goes very fast in action and we, the players have no time to slow down images.

The statement by Henry comes after FIFA ruled that the match be replayed.

See Thierry "hand-ing" France victory.

Thierry Henry's moment of shame as he can be seen blatantly handling the ball moments before the William Gallas equalised to give France a 1-0 victory, 2-1 on aggregate and see Les Bleus through to the World Cup

World Cup 2010 : The Final 32 heading to South Africa are almost complete

The qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is almost complete and 31 of the 32 teams heading to South Africa next June are now known.

Qualifiers so far

Africa
Algeria
Cameroon
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
South Africa (Hosts)

Asia
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR (North Korea)
Korea Republic (South Korea)

Europe
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland

North and Central America
Honduras
Mexico
USA

Oceania
New Zealand

South America
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Paraguay

The remaining match is Costa Rica vs Uruguay (1st leg 0 -1)

Portugal beats Bosnia to qualify for World Cup 2010.

Portugal ended Bosnia hopes of making their first ever appearance at the World Cup with a 1-0 victory over the Bosnian this Wednesday night.

The goal came from Raul Meireles in the 56th minute after good work from Manchester United striker Nani.

The victory saw Portugal take the play-off with a 2-0 aggregate win having beating the Bosnians by the same margin on Saturday in Lisbon.

The Bosnian coach afterwards said the team were devastated "It is difficult to comfort the boys, they are devastated. Kenan Hasagic had a nervous breakdown," Miroslav Blazevic said. "But this is a young (team) and has potential to develop."

Henry "Hands" France World cup victory over Ireland

The luck of the Irish deserted them to night as match officials missed a blatant Thierry Henry handball that ultimately led to Ireland missing out on the 2010 World Cup.

The Irish had pulled the two-leg play-off match level with a Robbie Keane goal in the 33rd minute to cancel out France's 1-0 advantage from the 1st leg in Dublin on Saturday.

France's contentious winner came in the 104th minute with the match heading for a penalty shootout when captain Thierry Henry slapped the ball with his hand to stop it going out of play and again to set it up for a cross that William Gallas headed in to secure the draw.

The goal means France, the 1998 World Cup winner and 2006 runner-up, won 2-1 over two legs following Saturday's 1-0 win in Dublin ironically with the help of a big deflection off an Ireland defender.

Slovenia 1 - Russia 0 Hiddink's Russian dream dies in Ljubjana

Gus Hiddink has failed in his atttempt to appear at four World cup finals with four different teams as Russia are beaten 1-0 by Slovenia to their World Cup hopes.

The hero of the night for Slovenia was striker Striker Zlatko Dedic. The Slovenian was quickest to react when Valter Birsa crossed from the right caught out Russia's defence .

Russia had won the first leg 2-1 in Moscow on Saturday, but Slovenia's win on Wednesday meant they qualified on the away goals rule.

The warning signs were there for Hiddink as early as the fourth minute, when a simple through-ball from Birsa inexplicably cut open the Russian defence and allowed Milivoje Novakovic a clear sight of goal, but his finish lacked confidence and was straight at keeper Igor Akinfeev.

Six minutes later there was a huge let-off for Russia when Andraz Kirm’s cross from the left struck the leg of the hapless Sergei Ignashevich, who saw the ball rebound off the post with Akinfeev motionless.

Dedic then beat Yanbaev to a deep cross from Novakovic, but his header lacked power and Akinfeev gathered comfortably.

As the clock ticked towards half-time, the home support erupted as Dedic got behind two Russian markers to turn in Birsa’s cross and give Slovenia the lead at the break.

Hiddink made two changes at half-time, bringing on Sergei Semak and Aleksandr Kerzhakov for Pavlyuchenko and Yanbaev.

But Russia’s night went from bad to worse when the Dinamo Moscow striker was shown a contentious red card by Norwegian referee Terje Hauge on 66 minutes.

Zhirkov’s cross from the left was whipped in dangerously towards Kerzhakov, who got the better of his marker and slid in on goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, appearing to make a legitimate stab at the loose ball.

The challenge was interpreted as dangerous play by the referee, and closer inspection of the incident also appears to show Slovenia defender Bostjan Cesar strike Kerzhakov in the face, while goalkeeper Handanovic chipped in with a retaliatory hand aimed at the striker.

Hiddink reacted by throwing on another striker, Pavel Pogrebniak, in place of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and the Stuttgart man almost made an immediate impact with a 12-yard header from Arshavin’s cross that was held by Handanovic.

As the game neared its dramatic climax, Zhirkov soared into the penalty box and hit a volley that was beaten out by Handanovic.

The ball was immediately cleared downfield to Dedic, who drilled a glorious opportunity wide, whilst at the other end Vasili Berezutsky came closest to finding an equaliser for Russia, volleying over from close range following Ignashevich’s flick.

There were more ugly scenes in stoppage time as Zhirkov was shown a second yellow card following an altercation with a Slovenia substitute on the by-line.

Seconds from the end Novakovic had a further glorious chance to put the icing on the cake, and the final whistle brought scenes of jubilation, with Russia ultimately left to pay the heaviest of prices for not finishing the match off on Saturday.

Slovenia will be heading to South Africa with high hopes in their second ever World Cup.

Greece beats Ukraine to end 16 year absence from World Cup

Otto Rehhagel who masterminded Greeks memorable 2004 European championship has gained another memorable achievement for his adopted country.

The Greeks booked their place to South Africa 2010 after defeating Ukraine in Donetsk in tonight's UEFA World Cup play-off.

Dimitrios Salpingidis' terrific first half strike gave the visitors the goal they needed to secure Greece's place at their first World Cup since 1994.

Greece and Ukraine, who were deadlocked at 0-0 after the first leg in Athens on Saturday, struggled to impose themselves early on in a match played on a rain-soaked pitch of the half-empty, 50,000-seater Donbass Arena.

Ukraine skipper Andrei Shevchenko missed a chance to put his team into the lead in the eighth minute, when he failed to send home a rebound after Greece 'keeper Alexandros Tzorvas deflected Alexander Aliev's shot.

The 2004 European champions then struck against the run of play when Samaras sliced open the Ukraine defence with a pass for Salpigidis to fire home.

The Greeks were lucky not to concede an equaliser just before the break when Ukraine defender Evgen Khacheridi, who had ventured forward, deflected a cross intended for Shevchenko wide.

Greece, buoyed by their lead, became more confident in the second half, tackling harder and finding more space in attack as the hosts surged forward in numbers.

With the clock ticking and in need of two goals, Ukraine came close to equalising with substitute Evgen Seleznev firing just wide on the hour.

Another effort by Yaroslav Rakytsky minutes later was blocked by Greece keeper Alexandros Tzorvas.

The final whistle found Greeks cheering in front of almost empty stands as most of the disappointed 30,000 Ukrainian fans had left before the end.

Algeria pips Egypt 1-0 to book Africa's last World Cup place

It has taken three matches between the Algeria and Egypt but finally the last of Africa's five groups has produced a winner.

Both teams finished the group qualifiers with 13 points each and a goal difference of 5 points which meant a plyoff was needed to determine the group winner and it was a stunning first-half strike by defender Antar Yahya that crushed Egyptian dreams and booked Algeria's ticket to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Algeria joins Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana and hosts South Africa as africa's representatives at the World Cup.

Egypt had majority of possession but lacked the bite upfront, while Algeria always looked dangerous on the break.

Yahya's 39th minute winner came against the run of play when he took advantage of a lapse in concentration by Egypt's defenders to hit a perfect volley in off the underside of the crossbar with his right foot from an acute angle.

The win means Algeria will make their first appearance at a World Cup since 1986 and once again highlighted Egypt's inability to carry their impressive form in Africa - they have won the African Cup a record six times - into World Cup qualification tournaments.

John Terry boasts a full strength England would beat Brazil.

Despite England's 1-0 defeat at the hands of World champions Brazil in Doha, Qatar the English captain John Terry remains upbeat.

England was severley under strength with several key players missing including Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand and David James.

A goal from Nilmar was enough to secure victory for Brazil but they could have scored more with Lucio hitting a post and Luis Fabiano missing a penalty against a Three Lions side missing several big names.

However, speaking to the Sunday Mirror, the England captain insisted the game was just a friendly and when it mattered the Three Lions could compete with the best teams in the world.

“We are giving them a lot of credit, but the game had friendly written all over it. It was difficult to press. I don’t think they are anything to worry about.

“Brazil are a very good side, but we have to look at our own strengths and quality. We can mix it with the best teams in the world.”

The centre back, who missed the game through injury, also declared a full strength England side would have won the game.

He boasted, “They have their weaknesses like any other side. At full strength I think we would have beaten them.

“On a different night with a few players back I think we would have really got at them.”

New Zealand qualification proves cash bonanza for

New Zealand' shock qualification for the World Cup has proved a money spinnner for the country's football Assocaition.

The All-Whites as the Kiwi football team is known booked their place with victory over Bahrain in their qualifying play-off second leg.

And they are set to net about NZ$10m ($7.43m; £4.45m) for qualifying for next year's finals in South Africa.

Talks with potential sponsors should also now kick on after they qualified for the first time since 1982.

The nation booked their place after Rory Fallon's header gave them a 1-0 victory over Bahrain in their Asia-Oceania playoff in Wellington on Saturday.

"We were cautious about having a big windfall and going crazy [because] you've got a lot of money and you can create a lot of short-term activity and then the money runs out," NZF chief executive Michael Glading told Reuters.

"We're very much thinking about long term."

Although the exact amount of cash the football association will get from world football governing body Fifa has not been determined at present, the country is budgeting for a NZ$10m windfall.

Word Cup 2010 Qualification Draws to a Close

The qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is drawing to an end and the 32 teams the will compete for Sport's ultimate prize are almost complete.

Qualifiers so far

Africa
Cameroon
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
South Africa (Hosts)

Asia
Australia
Japan
Korea DPR (North Korea)
Korea Republic (South Korea)

Europe
Denmark
England
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Serbia
Slovakia
Spain
Switzerland

North and Central America
Honduras
Mexico
USA

Oceania
New Zealand

South America
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Paraguay

and the final matches which will be played on 17th of November are

Ukraine vs Greece (1st Leg 0-0)
Algeria vs Egypt play-off
Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Portugal (1st Leg 0-1)
Slovania vs Russia (1st Leg 1-2)
Uruguay vs Costa Rica (1st Leg 1-0)
France vs Republic of Ireland (1st Leg 1-0)